The Crucifixion and Resurrection

Survey of the Life of Christ — Steve Gregg

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The Crucifixion and Resurrection

In this presentation, Steve Gregg discusses the events leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. He notes that Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples, during which he washed their feet and delivered the upper room discourse. Gregg also explains the trial and execution of Jesus, as well as his burial and resurrection. He emphasizes the audacious claim of Christianity that Jesus is the living founder who still communicates with his followers today.

Transcript

In our last session, we got about halfway through our survey of what's usually called the Passion Week, the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry prior to his crucifixion. And we saw that the triumphal entry occurred on Sunday. And on Monday, he cursed the fig tree and cleansed the temple.

On Tuesday, that was a busy day, he made his comments about the fig tree that had withered when the disciples pointed it out to him. Then he was approached by the leaders in the temple and asked by what authority he did the things he did, like chasing people out of the temple, for example. You ought to have authority to do that if you're going to do that.

And they wondered who authorized him, and he said, well, if you can tell me who authorized the baptism of John, whether it was from heaven or from man, I'll tell you who authorized me. Obviously, the correct answer of that question would be the correct answer to this question. God authorized John and God authorized Jesus, but they were not willing to take a stand about John the Baptist, and so he was not willing to tell them plainly the answer to their question.

And he gave three parables, a parable of two sons, both of whom were told by their father to go into their vineyard and work. One at first said no, but turned around and went and ended up doing the right thing. The other said, I'll go, but he didn't.

And Jesus said that the latter son was like the Pharisees, and the first son, who initially disobeyed but repented, was like the tax collectors and sinners and prostitutes who were coming at that time into the kingdom of heaven. He told the parable of the vineyard and the parable of the wedding feast on that occasion, both of which showed that the Jews had had opportunity enough to show that they could respond to God, and they had shown what they could do. They had shown that they would not respond to God, as a matter of fact, and so judgment would come upon them, and the invitation and opportunity to bear fruit would go out to another people.

Jesus then is approached by the Pharisees, or the disciples of some of the Pharisees, and they ask him about paying tribute to Caesar, and he says to render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. He's approached by the Sadducees with a trick question, trying to show the foolishness of the resurrection doctrine, which they didn't believe in, but they knew he did, and told the story of a woman who in her lifetime had had seven husbands, and wondered in the resurrection whose wife she would be, having had seven different husbands during her lifetime, and Jesus said, no problem, no marriage in heaven. In the resurrection there will be no marriage or given in marriage, so the issue will not even arise.

He was asked by a lawyer what the great commandment was, and this lawyer was sent by the Pharisees to test him. He gave an answer, which we all are familiar with, that you have to love the Lord your God, and you have to love your neighbors yourself, and probably to the chagrin of the Pharisees who sent the lawyer, the lawyer agreed with him, and said, you know, you're right. He says, that's right, never thought of it that way before, and Jesus said, well, you're not far from the kingdom of heaven.

And then Jesus asked the Pharisees, and those who were standing about, what is your opinion of the Messiah, whose offspring, whose seed is he supposed to be? And they answered predictably, David's. And he said, well, then why did David call him the Lord? He quoted a scripture in Psalm 110 where David referred to the Messiah as his, that is David's Lord. And they were speechless, and no one dared ask him any more questions.

And then Jesus went into a lamb-based tirade against the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, and predicted that the temple would be destroyed. And the disciples asked him privately when that would happen. And he gave them what we call the Olivet Discourse, a discourse about the destruction of Jerusalem, which of course was fulfilled in 70 A.D. As Jesus said it would, he said it would be fulfilled within that generation.

And that 70 A.D. is just exactly 40 years after he made the prediction. Now, Wednesday of that week, we have no recorded information of Jesus' activities. It's just the scriptures are silent on it, so we come to Thursday next.

And of course, Thursday is the last day that Jesus spent at liberty with his disciples before his arrest. He was arrested that night. And we don't read of anything that happened during the day, but we do read of what happened that night.

Jesus met together with his disciples for a final Passover meal. Now, the Jews celebrated Passover every year. And Jesus, as a Jew, and his disciples being Jews, had no doubt celebrated Passover together at the previous Passover seasons that are recorded in the Gospel.

So this was not the first time that the disciples met with Jesus for Passover. But when they came to the room, Jesus said with great desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And in the course of the ceremony, Jesus changed the meaning of the Passover.

The traditional Jewish ceremony was a commemoration of the exodus and of the fact that a lamb had been slain by each household. The blood had been placed on the lintels and the doorposts of each house in Egypt while the Israelites were still slaves there. And a judgment messenger, an angel of death, went through Egypt one night and slew the firstborn of every house that did not have blood upon it.

But God had promised the Jews, when I see the blood, I will pass over you and I will not slay your firstborn. And so there was salvation for the firstborn's life through the blood that was applied to the doorpost. This was commemorated every year by the Jews after they were released.

And they would eat certain matzos, crackers, to commemorate the lamb that was killed. And they would drink wine ceremonially representing the blood of the lamb that was put on the doorpost. And on this occasion, Jesus changed the procedure.

Apparently he had followed ordinary customary procedure every time before this. But he said, this cup, this bread is my body which is broken for you and this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for the remission of sins. And so Jesus said, when you take this meal from now on, do it in remembrance of me.

In other words, from now on you will not be remembering the exodus, you will be remembering me when you take this ceremony. Jesus did not indicate how often they should take it. In fact, he did not even so much command that they take it on a regular basis.

He just said, as often as you do it, do it in remembrance of me. And of course, this is sometimes referred to as the Lord's Supper, the Last Supper, the Communion. The Church has historically followed this on various schedules.

Some churches, the Roman Catholic for example, and some Protestant churches, take their commemoration of this every Sunday. In Catholic circles, the ceremony is called the Eucharist. And every Sunday morning, it's probable even that the early disciples may have done this every Sunday, but we're not 100% sure.

Presbyterians take it about once every three months, four times a year. The church I was raised in and many evangelical churches take it once a month, the first Sunday of the month or some other designated Sunday. But the Bible and Jesus nowhere tell us how often this meal should be commemorated or even necessarily that it must be on a regular basis.

Jesus said, however, when you do this from now on, do it in remembrance of me. Now, of course, he was talking about the Passover meal, and maybe the disciples were assuming that every year, once a year, when they would come to Passover season, they would do this on the regular schedule, but with a different meaning. They would have a different memory attached to it.

And the reason for that is that the Exodus, which was commemorated by the traditional Passover, was the occasion of the Jews' deliverance and the institution of the covenant at Mount Sinai. Because when they came out of Egypt shortly thereafter, they came to Sinai, and God entered into a covenantal relationship with Israel. But Jesus said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

And the writer of Hebrews said, where there's a new covenant, the first covenant must be old and obsolete. And therefore, Jesus was saying, there's no sense in commemorating the Exodus anymore, or that covenant. There is now a new covenant, and I'm replacing the old with the new right here in this room.

And whenever you do this kind of thing in the future, don't be remembering the old covenant. Remember the new covenant that I've made with you now. And so that is what we remember when we take these elements, at whatever rate of frequency we do that, or in frequency, as the case may be.

Now, at this meal, Judas... Actually, I probably should have told before the meal, because the chronology of this is a little tricky. You will remember that yesterday I was talking about the anointing of Jesus at Bethany by Mary. How that she poured perfume over his head, and he said, she has anointed me for my burial.

Well, I mentioned that John's gospel places this chronologically before this Passion Week, on Saturday night, before Palm Sunday. And yet, Matthew and Mark also record the story, but they place it in a different position. They place it as if it were about the time we're talking about on Thursday.

But I think there's an explanation of why the difference exists. If you would look, for example, at Matthew chapter 26, and really, we're talking about something out of its chronological order, although the more logical place for me to bring it up would have been just before talking about the Passover meal. It doesn't matter.

This basically explains why Judas betrayed Jesus at this time. It says in Matthew 26 verses 1 through 5, Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these things that he said to his disciples, You know that after two days is the Passover. So we're going back.

And the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who is called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him. But they said not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.

Then look at verse 14. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me if I deliver him to you? Now, between verse 5 and verse 14 is the story of the anointing of Jesus by Mary at Bethany. And it seems to me that it is parenthetical here.

That is to say that the story flows naturally from verse 5 directly to verse 14. And that verses 6 through 13 are a parenthesis. Now, you see, up to verse 5 in Matthew 26, we have the chief priests plotting how to get their hands on him, but they don't know how to do so.

They don't want to do it at the feast. That might be too risky. But then we read that they got the great break when Judas came to them and offered to betray Jesus to them in verse 14.

But we are not told, without verses 6 through 13, we would not know why Judas did this. Why Judas was sufficiently upset with Jesus to betray him like this. Now, verses 6 through 13, therefore, I think go back and tell an earlier story as sort of giving a reason why Judas was disposed to do what he did in verse 14.

Notice it doesn't say that verses 6 through 13 happened chronologically at the point here that we're reading. It just says, and when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, this could be jumping back a few days. And probably was.

Now, remember in verse 2 of this chapter, it says Jesus said, after two days is the Passover. That means we're talking about Thursday because the Passover was on Saturday. And so the story in verses 1 through 5 is on Thursday.

And probably so is verse 14. But verses 6 through 13 look back to the previous Saturday and tell something that had happened back then and tell it in order to let us know something of Judas' reason for being angry at Jesus. It says there in verses 6 and following, when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil.

She poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when his disciples saw it, they were indignant. Now, John's gospel tells us that the particular disciple that raised the objection was Judas himself.

In John 12, 4, it mentions that the objector particularly was Judas. Apparently, he got the other disciples briefly on his side until Jesus reduced them. It said, to what purpose is this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much.

Mark and John tell us 300 denarii. And given to the poor. But when Jesus was aware of it, he said to them, why do you trouble this woman? For she has done a good work for me.

For you have the poor with you always. But me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial.

And assuredly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her. Now, we are told in John that after this, Judas was angry and Satan entered Judas. So it would appear that Judas' betrayal of Jesus is seen as a result of Satan entering Judas because probably of personal bitterness that he had been rebuked before the disciples in this way.

And who knows what else he may have objected about the anointing. He may have felt like Jesus was a megalomaniac or something, that he would allow this expensive waste report on him saying that, you know, this is not a waste, that it's on me. He may have also been objecting to the fact that Jesus spoke of it as an anointing for his burial.

Thinking, boy, this Jesus is on a, you know, he's on a defeatist trip, you know. He's not leading the troops anymore, you know. He's talking about dying and so forth.

Whatever may have made Judas angry about this particular incident, there may have been several things, it led to his going to the chief priests and offering to betray Jesus. And so this we are told actually before we are told of the Passover meal and the Passover is celebrated after that. Now, the events in the upper room are somewhat challenging to mix chronologically.

Not impossible, but challenging. Because John's gospel gives us information about what happened in the upper room, which is not given in the other gospels. But it can in many cases be pretty well determined where in the other gospels the material in John fits in.

John records that after the meal, in John 13, it says, Jesus rose up, took off his outer garments, put a towel around his waist, got a bowl of water, and went around and washed the disciples' feet, and made that a lesson for them about serving one another. If he was, in fact, the Lord of all, and he washed their feet, then they ought to be not above doing such things for each other. And there's several things that Jesus did there in the upper room, including a lengthy discourse, but not before he had predicted that one of them in the room would betray him.

All of the disciples asked, is it I? Is it I? Even Judas asked, is it I? Although he knew the answer, he just felt like if he didn't show any curiosity, he'd stand out in front of the other disciples as the only one who wasn't curious to know who it was. So he said, Lord, is it I? And Jesus said to him, you have said. And Judas actually got up to leave the room, and Jesus said to him, what you must do, do quickly.

And Judas went out and made the final arrangements to bring the troops to arrest Jesus. Meanwhile, Jesus remained in the upper room with his disciples. He said, one of you is going to deny me.

No, he didn't actually say that. But I think he did actually predict that before Peter spoke up. No, he said all of you.

He didn't say one of you is going to deny me. He said all of you are going to forsake me tonight. And Peter said, no, not I. The others might do so, but I would never forsake you.

And then Jesus said, well, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times. And Peter denied this, but Jesus affirmed that it was, in fact, true. Jesus gave some other instructions to the disciples there in the upper room.

Some of them we just can't go into detail about. But we have a very lengthy section of the Gospel of John, which we call the upper room discourse. In John chapter 13, the discourse begins about probably around verse 36 or earlier, 31.

Probably verse 31 would be a good place to start the discourse. And Jesus there gave the disciples a new commandment that they should love one another as he has loved them. And so this is how all men would know that they are his disciples.

He then predicts Peter's denials, which Peter denies that he'll deny. And then in chapter 14 through 15 through 16, those three additional chapters, Jesus gives them a lengthy discourse interrupted once in a while by disciples asking for clarification. Essentially, the subject matter of the discourse is that he's going away.

This is news to them and not not welcome news that they he's not telling them exactly where he's going, although he says he's going to his father. They don't quite understand how this how that means what that means. They asked to be shown the father.

And Jesus said, well, you've seen the father when you've seen me. And he says several things. He makes several promises to them that while he has gone away from them, they will have consolations of other sorts.

They will have another comforter instead of him. Who would come and that would be the Holy Spirit who would come and dwell with them and in them. And he would be like Jesus to them.

He would serve as another counselor to them, helper, and he would teach them more than what Jesus had taught. He actually said to them, I have many things to say to you, but you can't bear them yet. So when the Holy Spirit comes, he'll teach you all things.

He'll lead you in all truth. He'll remind you of everything I've said to you. He'll bear witness of me.

And so Jesus gave them quite a bit of information about the Holy Spirit who would come. And then he also told them that they could pray in his name. And he said this repeatedly also, that if they would pray anything in his name while he was gone, the father would gladly do it for them.

So that it would be some consolation, although they were not happy that he'd be gone. They had his name and the ability to request from God in his name. As they had formerly requested of Jesus things, they could now talk to the father in his name.

And also they would have the Holy Spirit dwelling with them. He did tell them there would be persecution. The world would hate them.

And a lot of the things that he said, he said multiplied times. He repeated himself frequently. I came back to the same subjects over and over again.

He told them that they should expect tribulation in the world, but in him they would have peace. And he has overcome the world, so they should take courage. Chapter 17 of John tells us of a prayer that Jesus prayed.

Apparently as he and his disciples were en route to the Garden of Gethsemane, which was the place that Jesus was to be arrested. And Jesus prayed in John 17 that his disciples would be unified, that they'd be kept from the world, from the defilements of the evil one. And that they would be shown and sanctified by the truth.

These prayers Jesus prayed for them, the last recorded prayers for his disciples. Sometimes it's referred to as the high priestly prayer of Christ. Then of course, all the gospels give a lot of information about Jesus' arrest, and his trials, and his death.

The four gospels give different selections of information. And let me just summarize some of this. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he went there to pray.

Apparently this was an accustomed haunt of his, because Judas knew to find him there. Apparently those that paid Judas did not know that Jesus was there regularly, and that's why they had to pay Judas to let them know. But it was apparently a place that Jesus predictably went to when he was in Jerusalem to pray.

And Judas either knew for a fact that Jesus was coming there, or could anticipate it with a great deal of certainty. And Jesus went there and he prayed in the night with three of his disciples. Nine of them were not allowed to go into the garden with him.

He took Peter, James, and John in there, and he said, stay awake with me for one hour and pray with me, lest you fall into temptation. And he went a little further, about stone's throw from them, and prayed that if it were possible, this cup that he was about to drink would be taken from him and he would not have to go through it. But he said, however not my will, but thine, be done.

And he came back and found the disciples sleeping. And he woke them up and said, couldn't you stay awake one hour with me? And he said, watch and pray that you don't enter into temptation. And he went back and prayed again, same things as before.

He came back, found the disciples asleep again, woke them up again. And he went back a third time and prayed similarly. One of the Gospels tells us that his prayers were so fervent that he sweated, as it were, great drops of blood as he was praying.

And he came back a third time and found the disciples asleep. And this time he apparently let them sleep for a while. He said, go ahead and take your rest and sleep.

And then at some point he woke them up and said, behold, he that betrays me is at hand. And Judas was arriving with a group of armed men, apparently. And Judas came and betrayed Jesus by kissing him.

It was a prearranged signal. The one that I kiss will be the one you want. Apparently, some of the soldiers perhaps had never seen Jesus before and needed to know which one to arrest.

When they arrived in the garden, Jesus said, who are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am he. And all those who came to arrest him fell over backward on the ground.

And then they got up again. And he said to them, who are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I told you, I'm he.

And therefore, since I'm the one you want, let these others go. And all the other disciples fled and Jesus was bound and carried away to the house of Annas. Now, we begin at this point a consideration of the various hearings and trials that Jesus faced in one night.

He actually had six trials before various jurisdictions. Six trials before dawn. The first one is only mentioned by John's gospel, and that is he was taken to Annas, the high priest.

Now, Annas, you may have been more acquainted with the name Caiaphas as the high priest at the time. And ordinarily, according to law, the Jews were supposed to have only one high priest at a time. But Annas had been the high priest and the Jews recognized him as such.

But the Romans, not liking Annas' politics, deposed him and put his son-in-law, Caiaphas, in the role of the high priest. So that officially, as far as the Romans acknowledged and allowed to be observed, Caiaphas was the high priest. But his father-in-law, Annas, was the older man who had been deposed.

And many of the Jews really looked to him as the real high priest, sort of the non-official high priest. And so we first have Jesus brought to Annas' house. So we don't have any record of really what went on there.

They either came to just display to Annas their prisoner or to have some initial interrogation or consultation with Annas. But all we know is that Jesus went to Annas' house. And after that, they went to Caiaphas' house.

Now, to these places, two of Jesus' disciples followed at a bit of a distance. All the disciples fled, but apparently John and Peter kind of turned around out of curiosity and decided to follow at a distance. And John, through some means, had knowledge of those of Caiaphas' household.

And just went right into Caiaphas' house in order to view the proceedings there. And John may well be the principal witness we have as to what happened there. Peter also came to Caiaphas' house, but he didn't know the people there well enough to go in and watch the proceedings.

So he stood outside, listened through the window, and warmed himself outdoors by a fire. And as we know, during the time that Jesus was on trial there at Caiaphas' house, Peter, on three occasions, was confronted about being a disciple of Jesus and denied it every time. And then the rooster crowed after the third time, twice.

And therefore, Peter realized that Jesus' prediction about this had come true, and he went out and wept bitterly. According to Luke's Gospel, Jesus looked over at him, apparently through the window or whatever, and it smoked Peter's conscience, and he went out and wept over having denied the Lord. But in Caiaphas' house, Jesus was on trial, his second trial.

The first was before Annas. We don't know what happened before Annas. Whether that was a formal trial or just an informal one.

But it was certainly a formal affair in Caiaphas' house. They actually brought in witnesses. They paid witnesses to come and speak against him, but even paying their witnesses to falsely witness, they couldn't get two witnesses to say exactly the same thing.

And you can't condemn a man under Jewish law without getting two witnesses to say the same thing. Finally, it says they found two witnesses who both said that we heard him say he would destroy the temple. And raise it up again on the third day.

Well, of course he didn't ever say that thing. It's kind of similar to something he said, that they were misquoting him. Two witnesses apparently both agreed that he had said this.

But even that is hardly something that could be called a capital offense. Okay, a man said he was going to destroy the temple and raise it on the third day. Well, he didn't do it.

He didn't destroy it. He hasn't done any crimes. You don't kill a man for that.

And Caiaphas, my priest, was getting very annoyed because they were getting nowhere. And now they had a prisoner, but they had to condemn him. I mean, it would be so humiliating to have to release him again.

He'd probably escape from them for good now that they've once arrested him. They're not going to find another Judas in the crowd to betray him a second time. They had to kill him this time.

And they couldn't find anything to condemn him for. So Caiaphas stepped down from his bar of judgment and came and cross-examined Jesus personally. Now, by the way, there has been a book written about the illegal trial of Jesus.

And according to rabbinic law, there are certain things that the Jews, even the Sanhedrin, were not allowed to do in the process of trying a criminal. One was that they couldn't hold a trial at night. And these trials were all held at night.

And another was that if the witnesses broke down and couldn't get the true story out, it was forbidden for the high priest, who was the superintending judge, to cross-examine the witness or the accused if the witnesses couldn't get something against him. There were all kinds of things. Someone listed a whole bunch of things that were done in the trial of Jesus that were illegal.

But the Jews didn't care. They were desperate. And finally, Jesus wasn't giving any answer.

Caiaphas said, don't you hear what these people accuse you of? Why don't you speak? And he wouldn't speak. And so Caiaphas finally said, I adjure you by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of the Blessed.

And apparently, because he was put under oath in the name of God, Jesus finally broke his silence and said, I am. And after this, you will see the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven and power and great glory, sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And then Caiaphas tore his robes in the Jewish, typical Jewish display of chagrin over having heard what he called blasphemy.

And he said, we've heard blasphemy. What do we need any more witnesses for? We've heard him do a capital offense right here. We've heard him blaspheme.

Well, there's actually no precedent in Jewish law for saying that it is blasphemy to call yourself the Messiah. Lots of people called themselves the Messiah. A lot of Jews hoped that they were right.

And there would, after all, someday be a real Messiah. And would it be wrong for him to call himself the Messiah? There was actually no precedent for calling it blasphemy when you say I'm the Messiah. But that's all they got Jesus to admit to.

I'm the Christ. I'm the Messiah. The Son of the Blessed.

And so they kind of had to make new rules in a way to even find this to be blasphemy. But they call it blasphemy. And Caiaphas says, what do you say, court? And they all said he's worthy of death.

So they finally had gotten something that they thought they could condemn him for. But there was one problem. And that is that the Jews, and this was a Jewish court, had no right under Roman dominion.

And they were under the Roman occupation. They had no right to kill a man. The only way they could kill a man was if they got the Roman approval from the Roman governor, who was Pilate.

Now, the Sanhedrin knew that Pilate couldn't care less whether a man had said he was the son of God or not. I mean, the Romans had many people claim that kind of thing about them. There were many gods for the Romans.

Pilate would not be sensitive about that kind of thing at all. It was obviously a charge that the Jews didn't care for, but they would have to persuade Pilate somehow that Jesus was worthy of death or else they'd never get permission to kill him. And so they had to, now that they had their own reasons for wanting to kill him, they had to trump up false charges to bring to Pilate so that Pilate could be persuaded to have him killed.

So there was a third gathering, a Jewish court, that Jesus did before, at dawn. Again, he came before the Sanhedrin. First it was before Annas, then it was before the Sanhedrin, then again at dawn.

He had come before the Sanhedrin again. And they, on that occasion, further interrogated him, trying to get information up from him that would translate into a charge that would interest the Romans in putting Jesus to death. And that was awfully hard to get, because Jesus didn't have anything to say that would be alarming to the Romans.

And they finally, let me see here, I think I may have written it down. They finally came up with several charges, which they made up. Since they couldn't get anything real, they had to make something up.

And, let's see, it says in Luke, chapter 22, verse 66, As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led him to their council. This is this dawn Sanhedrin meeting. It says, If you are the Christ, tell us.

But he said to them, If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And I also, if I ask you, you will by no means answer me or let me go. Hereafter, the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.

And they all said, Are you then the Son of God? And he said to them, You rightly say that I am. And they said, What further testimony do we need? The same thing that happened the night before. For we have only heard it ourselves with his own mouth.

In the next 23, Luke 23, verse 1 says, The whole multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate. Now listen, they haven't heard anything from him that's going to bother Pilate, but look at what they charge. And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.

So Pilate asked him, saying, Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him and said, It is as you say. Then Pilate said to the chief priest and crowd, I find no fault in this man. And it says, you know, it's interesting.

The charges they brought against him was he was perverting the nation. Well, that wasn't even brought up before the Sanhedrin, that issue. That he was forbidding people to pay taxes.

He never even said a word forbidding people to pay taxes. In fact, the only time he was ever asked about it, he said, rendered to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Apparently enforcing Caesar's right to collect the tribute.

So, I mean, they just made that one up out of thin air. Why'd they even have the hearings at all if they're just going to make something up? But they had to make something up because there was nothing really that he had ever done that would alarm the Romans. So they had to come and make it sound like he was some kind of a political insurgent.

He said he's Christ, a king. Well, it was true he said he was Christ. But, and it is true that Christ is a king, but it was wrong in what they were implying.

They were implying that Christ is a king of the same sort that Caesar is. And who would therefore be a rival to Caesar for the throne of the Roman Empire. Or even for the nation of Israel.

And that was not at all what Jesus was attempting to do. And therefore he was greatly misrepresented. Anyway, that brings an end to his handling by the Jews.

He had stood before Annas. Then he'd been on trial at Caiaphas' house that night. Then the next morning he'd been at a third trial.

Also at Caiaphas' house. And then he was turned over to the Romans. Now Pilate had him.

And there were three trials he had before the Romans too. First of all, Pilate interviewed him and couldn't really find anything wrong with him. Came back and said, I find nothing wrong with this man.

In fact, we read that Pilate was very much shaken up by his interview with Jesus. The something about Jesus impressed him. And in the book of Acts, in chapter 2, it says that Pilate was determined to let Jesus go.

Now this is a strange thing. Because Pilate is known to us from history as a cruel tyrant. And it seems uncharacteristic of Pilate to treat Jesus with so much deference and such an eagerness to let him go.

And not do wrong by him. Knowing he was innocent not to kill him. I mean, Pilate on many occasions had killed innocent Jews without any compunction.

Some people thought, well maybe this isn't a true story. Maybe we're actually getting this colored by later testimony. Maybe just trying to make the Jews look bad and the Romans look good.

Because Pilate wasn't this kind of a guy. To treat a Jew as kindly as he did. And so some have thought that the very treatment that Pilate gave to Jesus, which was obviously very favorable.

Is so uncharacteristic of what we know about Pilate. That this story couldn't be true. But, in answer to that, I would say that the gospel records are not silent about Pilate's general cruelty.

It is in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13, that we read of Pilate slaying a bunch of Galileans in cold blood in the temple. The gospel writers do not downplay the cruelty of this tyrant. And the fact that they show him to be exceptionally generous.

Or not so much generous, but just fair minded. And favorable toward Jesus. In this interview, must be seen as an exception to his general cruelty.

There are reasons, though, that we could account for this fair mindedness of Pilate on this occasion. First of all, Matthew 27, 18 tells us that Pilate knew that the charges against Jesus were false. Matthew 27, in verse 18, it says, For Pilate knew that it was because of envy they had delivered him.

In other words, it wasn't because of what they were saying. They weren't bringing true charges against him. They were just envious of him.

And they were just trying to get rid of him. Now, remember, Pilate wasn't friendly toward the Jewish leaders. They were always causing him trouble.

And Pilate probably figured any enemy of these people is probably somebody I'd like. These people are bad guys. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

And Pilate probably figured, I don't know much about this Jesus. But whoever he is, these guys don't like him. Therefore, I do.

He must be not too bad if they don't like him. And it's also possible, of course, as I said earlier, that Pilate may have had a file on Jesus. Jesus had been in Jerusalem before.

Jesus had been a major public figure. There was rumbling about him being the Messiah. That would interest the Romans.

Pilate probably had long ago consulted his intelligence network in the city and found out that this guy's not raising any political issues. He's no threat. And so Pilate was not all that eager to please the Jews in this matter.

Also, we read in Matthew 27, 19, that Pilate had received news from his wife, a letter from his wife that morning, that she had had a dream about Jesus. And she didn't say much about the details of the dream, but she said it had nothing to do with that righteous man. I've suffered many things this night in a dream because of it.

And Pilate, being your typical superstitious Roman, superstitious pagan, he thought, well, that must mean something. And I think he just didn't want to have anything to do with this. I think he wanted to let Jesus go and just never see him again.

He may have even wanted to spite the Jewish leaders, whom he didn't like. And we also have reason to believe that he was impressed with Jesus personally. Impressed with Jesus' whole stance and demeanor and so forth.

It says in Matthew 27, verse 14, that Jesus answered him not one word, so that the governor, meaning Pilate, marveled greatly. He was astonished that a man would be on trial for his life. And say nothing in his own defense, although he was clearly innocent.

Something about Jesus unnerved Pilate. He knew that Jesus was his superior in some way or another. And we know this too.

Because when Pilate heard that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, that really scared him, according to John's Gospel. When he was trying to ask the Jews, what really has he done wrong? I don't get it. Why are you people so upset with him? And they said, well, he blasphemed, he broke our laws, saying that he's the Son of God.

And it says when Pilate heard that, Pilate was afraid. I don't have the verse number in front of me, but it's in John's Gospel. Maybe, yeah, let me see here.

19, 8, thank you. Yeah, there we go. Thank you.

John 19, verse 7 says, The Jews answered him, we have a law, and according to our law, he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid. And he went again into the praetorium and said, Jesus, where are you from? You know, I mean, I thought I knew what I had here in my hands.

Now these people tell me, he says he's the Son of God. And from what I see, you know, he might even be. And he said, where are you from anyway? You know, you an alien? You from God or what? So we can see that Jesus impressed Pilate significantly.

So that even when Pilate heard that it was rumored that Jesus was the Son of God, Pilate didn't just laugh. Pilate was afraid. What have I got here? Maybe he is the Son of God.

It might even be true. Remember, the Romans, of course, didn't apply that term quite the same way the Jews and Christians do. Because there are many gods, the Romans.

And according to both Greek and Roman mythology, the gods themselves would have sex with women and have babies and children and so forth. And there were children of the gods and so forth. They didn't have quite the unique connotations in the Roman mind that it would to the Jew.

But still, there'd be nothing in the Roman way of thinking that would preclude a man being a child of one of the gods. And Jesus apparently impressed Pilate significantly to the point that Pilate thought, maybe he is. So we just see that Pilate, who is usually a hard-bitten, merciless tyrant, is somewhat, his courage is melted in the presence of Jesus.

We could actually say that Pilate was the one on trial here before Jesus, not vice versa. Because Pilate was now being tested to see whether he would do the right thing, which he knew was right, or whether he'd buckle under to bribes and threats and political pressure and do what he knew was wrong. It was really Pilate who was being tested here, it would appear.

But we read in, I think it's in Luke chapter 24 or 23, yes. In Luke 23, Pilate being very uncomfortable with the situation, and the people being upset with Pilate because he was trying to release Jesus, it says in verse 5, But they were the more fierce, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place. And when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the men were Galilean.

And as soon as he knew that Jesus belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also at Jerusalem at that time because of the feast, you know. So, I mean, Pilate thought, how am I going to get rid of this hot potato I've got here? I don't want to condemn him, but these people won't let me off the hook. And finally, they give him a clue that he's a Galilean.

He started in Galilee. Oh, he's a Galilean? That's not my jurisdiction. That's Herod's jurisdiction.

How fortunate, he happens to be in town for the Passover. We'll send Jesus over there, you know. And Pilate thought he was rid of the problem.

And he sent Jesus to Herod, and only Luke tells about this, in Luke chapter 23, verses 6 through 12, which really makes it the second trial that Jesus faced before the Romans, this time before Herod. Herod, we're told, had been eager to see Jesus. He'd heard about him.

In fact, at one time, he'd been afraid that it was John the Baptist, risen from the dead, whom he had killed. But now he'd satisfied himself that this wasn't John from back. It was just a miracle worker that he was interested in seeing.

And so he was hoping Jesus would show him a miracle. He was glad when Jesus was sent to him. But Jesus wouldn't humor him.

Jesus showed him no miracles. Jesus wouldn't even speak to him. Wouldn't even answer him.

And he was abused a little bit by Herod's men, and mocked, and Jesus just didn't respond. And so Herod, disgusted, just sent him back to Pilate, and Pilate found he had him on his hands again. But he hoped he wouldn't.

And so this was the third trial that Jesus faced before the Romans, was before Pilate a second time, and the sixth trial altogether, and was faced with less than 12 hours. And Pilate finally didn't know what to do, and he was just about ready to release Jesus. And the Jews said, listen, this man said that he's a king.

Anyone who claims to be a king is no friend of Caesar. And bringing that point up, Pilate could read between the lines. These guys were threatening.

If you don't do what we want you to do to this man, we can tell Caesar that you have released a man that we brought to you, who was an opponent of Caesar, a rival of Caesar. And your job won't be worth a plug nickel here. And Pilate realized that, in fact, he probably wouldn't mind losing his job there in Palestine.

Most Romans didn't like that particular assignment. In fact, it was probably an assignment he received as a punishment for displeasing the emperor sometime back there. Because the Romans hated to govern that unruly group of Jews.

But it wasn't so much that his job would be on the line, but probably his head. If the Jews could bring a persuasive case against Pilate that he had favored a man who was a rival king to Caesar, that would probably be Pilate's execution. And Pilate realized he couldn't resist any further, and he surrendered Jesus to them, gave the order for him to be crucified, and washed his hands with water, saying, I'm washing my hands of this, I'm innocent of the blood of this innocent man.

And so Pilate didn't see Jesus, well, he did see him again, as a matter of fact. Pilate made an inscription to put over the cross. Typically, crucified men, and there were many, because that was the way the Romans killed people if they were not citizens.

If they were citizens, they were beheaded if they needed to die by the hands of the Romans. But a crucified man generally would have the charges written down that he was killed for, and nailed up over his head on the cross, so that people going by could see what happens to people who do these particular kinds of crimes. And where there would ordinarily be the list of Jesus' crimes over his head, Pilate wrote, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews.

And he nailed it up there. And the Jews objected to this, and they said, well, at the least say, he said he was the king of the Jews. And Pilate said, well, I've written, I've written.

And he let it stand as it was. And there's two ways of understanding Pilate's action there. One is that he may just have wanted to scorn the Jews.

After all, Jesus was a pitiful looking king at that point. He'd been beaten with 39 lashes. He'd been crowned with a crown of thorns.

He'd been beaten up with fists of soldiers. Probably his face was all black and blue and bloody. He was probably emaciated.

He was hanging on a cross, helpless. I mean, this is a king. To call this the king of the Jews would be impossibly just Pilate's way of mocking the Jews.

This is such a king as the Jews have when they make themselves a king. But it's also possible that Pilate was getting one last lick in at the Jews, saying, this is what I really think, you know, I take his claim seriously. Not seriously enough, of course, to release him.

But it's possible that Pilate was showing some respect to Jesus by doing that. But some little respect, a little too little, too late. You know, Jesus on the cross is not going to appreciate that respect that much.

Interestingly, Pilate had two other men crucified alongside Jesus. We'll talk about that in a moment. But as Jesus was made to carry his cross, apparently he stumbled.

We don't have record of Jesus stumbling, but we have record of Jesus leaving town with the cross on his back in one gospel. But the other gospels don't mention Jesus carrying his cross. They mention a man named Simon of Cyrene being pressed into service to carry his cross.

Therefore we deduce that if Jesus left town carrying his cross, but at a certain point another man was made to carry it, Jesus must have been, you know, unable to carry it the rest of the way. And so as he was leaving Jerusalem, many women were weeping over him. And he said, don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.

He essentially said, if the Romans do this kind of thing to me, what will they do to you? If they do this in a green tree, what will be done in a dry, is his actual word. And so Jesus went up and they crucified him. And they crucified two criminals, one on each side of him.

Now it's interesting that they would do so. This was not an ordinary day for executions. This is especially, you know, ad hoc execution, because the Jews were determined to get Jesus crucified fast and were pressing Pilate to do it.

But why did these other two guys get crucified on this occasion? We know it was not a very opportune time to crucify man, because usually you'd leave a man on the cross for three days or so until he expired. But the next day was the Sabbath and Passover, and they didn't want to leave the bodies on the cross there. In fact, as the evening drew near, Pilate ordered that the legs would be broken of the men on the cross so that they'd die fast, because they didn't want to leave them up over the Passover.

Well, it seems like they would have anticipated that. I mean, if you don't want them on the cross over the Passover, why not crucify them after Passover? Why do it today? What was the rush? Now we know that the rush to crucify Jesus was that the Jews were just determined to get rid of him fast, and Pilate was doing their bidding. But what was the problem with these other two guys? Why were they crucified that day and not another? I have a theory.

I've never read it anywhere, but it makes sense to me. We know that in the negotiations with the Jews, when Pilate was trying to release Jesus, Pilate offered to let one criminal go, because at Passover season it was sort of a custom. He did it as a favor to humor the Jews, that he'd let one of their Jewish people who was in prison released as a goodwill gesture.

And he gave them the opportunity to either have Jesus released or Barabbas, who was a murderer and a robber and an insurrectionist, according to the various gospel accounts. So they already had in custody Barabbas. Now we're told that Barabbas had been arrested with his companions in crime.

And the Jews actually requested that Barabbas be released, and Pilate was kind of stuck and went ahead and released him. But what ever happened to Barabbas' companions? My suspicion is that the two thieves on the crosses next to Jesus were Barabbas' companions. And here's why.

They had done things that were worthy of death. They were insurrectionists and murderers. And robbers.

As Barabbas was. Pilate, realizing that by this very custom of releasing one prisoner, he had to release the one that the Jews asked for, and that was Barabbas, so he'd let Barabbas, a notorious zealot, escape. But he still had his two companions.

And he may well have thought, well, I'm not going to let these two guys get away. I'm going to execute them along with this Jesus, the king of the Jews. In fact, he may have done so in order to spite the Jews, who had gotten Barabbas back from him.

He might have said, well, you got Barabbas back, but here's his two companions. I'm going to kill them along with this guy you want to kill. I mean, there was probably, there'd be reasons that Pilate would have to kill the two friends of Barabbas at the same time as Jesus.

They were worthy of death. Barabbas had now escaped. And perhaps to avoid Barabbas, you know, gathering a group to release his friends or whatever, he just decided, let's dispense with them quickly.

There may be other explanations or maybe other identities of these people, but I can't think of any. It seems very strange that they were crucified, two other guys on this particular day. And I think it was probably Barabbas' companions that were crucified with Jesus.

They both mocked Jesus initially on the cross, but he apparently impressed them as they hung there for six hours. One of them at least changed his mind. And as the other kept mocking Jesus, this other who had a change of heart actually rebuked his companion and said, why are you mocking this man? He's not done anything wrong.

We're receiving the just reward of our deeds, but he hasn't done anything wrong. And then he turned to Jesus and said, Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, remember me, which was a tremendous thing to say. I mean, exhibiting tremendous faith when you realize that both he and Jesus were going to be dead later that day to talk about Jesus coming into a kingdom.

Even the disciples didn't have any hope for the kingdom anymore. When Jesus died, they thought that was the end of all the possibilities of the kingdom. And here's a man who's going to be dead soon talking to another man who's going to be dead soon.

He says, I know you're coming into a kingdom. And when you do, let me in. And Jesus said, assuredly, I say to you today, you'll be with me in paradise.

And as the day wore on, Jesus said several things from the cross. There are seven recorded sayings of Jesus from the cross. The first of them is recorded in Luke 23, 34.

He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The second recorded saying of Jesus on the cross is also Luke 23, verse 43. Whereas he said to the thief, you will be with me today in paradise.

The third saying of Jesus was what he said to his mother, as he saw her at the foot of the cross in John 19, verses 26 and 27. And he said, woman, behold your son. And he told John, behold your mother.

And he committed the keeping of his mother to John, his nearest and most loyal disciple. His fourth saying was recorded in Matthew 27, 46. He said, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is Aramaic.

It means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is a quotation, actually, from Psalm 22, 1, deliberately, probably to call attention to the whole psalm, which if they would recall that psalm, they'd realize they were seeing it fulfilled before their eyes. The fifth saying of Jesus for the cross was when he said, I thirst in John 19, verse 28. And then just at the point of his death, there are two more things he said.

One of them is recorded in Luke and one in John. He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, in Luke 23, 46. That was actually a quote of a psalm, Psalm 31, 5. Into thy hands I commit my spirit.

It was actually a childhood prayer that the Jews learned at their mother knee. Sort of like, now I lay me down to sleep. I pray to God my soul to keep.

I should die before I wake. I pray to the Lord my soul to take. It's like a child's prayer.

The Jewish mothers taught it to their sons and daughters. At night, they would pray it. It was a nighttime prayer.

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And Jesus said that as his final prayer just before his death. His mother, who probably taught him that prayer and heard him pray it for the first time when he was two or three years old, was there to hear it the last time also.

And his final statement was, it is finished. It is petalestai in the Greek. It means we've won.

It's a military term. That's recorded in John 19, 30. And we're told that at that point he gave up his spirit.

He died after only six hours on the cross. An amazingly short period of time. When Pilate heard of it, he marveled.

The other two men had their legs broken to hasten their death. There were two men in the Sanhedrin who had disapproved of the judgment against Christ. But had been outnumbered in their opinions.

They were Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. Both of them Pharisees and both members of the Sanhedrin. And both disciples of Jesus.

Joseph, in particular, of Arimathea, was a rich man, we're told. And he asked permission from Pilate to bury Jesus. And Pilate was amazed that Jesus could even be dead yet.

He sent and asked the guards. And they said, yeah, he's dead. So Pilate released Jesus to Joseph and to Nicodemus.

Who hastily, in order to get it done before the Passover Eve. They wrapped him up. Put some spices on him and put him in a cave.

Which had never been used before. It was Joseph's own cave. And then they rolled a stone over it.

Now, after that happened. We read in Matthew 27, verses 62 through 66. That the Jewish leaders were afraid that the disciples might steal the body.

And claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. They were aware that Jesus had himself made some predictions. In fact, the Jewish opponents of Christ seemed to be more aware of those predictions than the disciples were.

Because the disciples didn't remember that. Or didn't believe it. But the Jewish leaders who had heard of it.

And were afraid that the disciples would wish to stage a fulfillment of that prediction. By stealing the body and then claiming that he'd risen. They secured some guards to go and watch the tomb.

To make sure that no body snatching could take place from there. And so the tomb was left guarded. And it was Friday night.

And on Saturday Jesus rested. Being the Sabbath. In the tomb.

And after the Sabbath was over he got up. And the resurrection occurred. Now the story of the resurrection.

Is the climax of all four gospels. It's found in the last chapter of each of the gospels. And each one gives its own selection of details.

If you read the four different gospels you could almost get the impression that the details are contradictory to one another. It's one of those things. Where critics have thought the gospels just can't get it right.

That someone says someone was there first. Someone else gives some other. Someone else was there.

And how many angels were there is not stated exactly the same in the gospels. And so forth. But actually it is possible.

To take all the data of all the gospels. And harmonize them. I will give you a very quick harmony of.

The gospel records of the resurrection. But let me just say this. Even if the critics were correct.

In saying that the gospels. Contradict each other on the details. And therefore prove that the gospels cannot be inspired by God.

Because they would have to be infallible. They can't have contradictions if they're inspired by God. Even if that argument could be allowed.

Which I do not allow it. But even with that. One has to admit.

That there are four independent accounts of one event. And it doesn't take that many. Witnesses to an event.

To decide something in court. In a court of law a man can be put to death. On the testimony of two witnesses who saw it happen.

And here we have twice that many. We have four records. Three of them come from eyewitnesses.

And many other eyewitnesses are mentioned in the accounts. If a person even wished to reject the inspiration of these accounts. They could not deny that these are accounts.

They are witnesses of a historic event. And that event is the resurrection of Christ. The very fact that the details do not.

Coincide exactly with one another. In the various accounts is proof that there was no collusion here. There is proof that the witnesses did not compare notes.

And try to make sure that they got it the same way. They all told it as they knew it. And they selected the details.

According to their own purposes. Let me give you. Very rapidly here.

The appearances of Christ. That are recorded in the Gospels after his. Resurrection.

There are 13 altogether. But you have to go from one gospel to the next. To get it.

Or there is actually not 13 appearances. But there is 13 points in the narrative. That have to be harmonized.

First of all. Mark and Luke. Tell us that in the morning of Sunday.

Morning after the Passover is over. There were certain women. Mary Magdalene.

Salome. Joanna. Another Mary.

Possibly the mother of Jesus was there. A group of women. Decided to go to the tomb.

Of course they did not know Jesus had risen. They knew the tomb was guarded. Or maybe they did not know the tomb was guarded.

They may not have been aware of that. But they certainly knew where the tomb was. And they knew that Jesus had been hastily buried.

So they brought some spices and such to anoint his body with. Now they were not expecting him to rise. Remember.

They just figured he was gone. But they wanted to give him proper embalming or whatever. Before they wrote him off as history.

And as they were approaching the tomb. According to Mark. They were discussing among themselves how they would move the stone.

Now Matthew tells us there was a great earthquake at that time. And an angel came down. Or two.

And. Moved the stone. And the guards upon seeing the angel.

Fell. I guess. Unconscious.

They were like dead when they fainted. Later they got up again and they ran to town. And they were not there apparently when the women arrived.

But the women did not know that this had all happened. They probably felt the earthquake. But they did not know the tomb was empty.

They did not know an angel was there. They did not know the stone had been moved. And so they were discussing among themselves how will we move the stone.

To go in and treat the body. And. When they got near enough to the tomb to see that the stone was rolled away.

They were alarmed. So alarmed in fact that Mary Magdalene. Seeing that the stone was moved.

Ran back. The other direction. Ran from the tomb.

Not having actually gotten all the way there. And ran back to tell the disciples. Because she and the others assumed.

Somebody had stolen the body. And so Mary Magdalene separates from this company. And.

After they've seen the open tomb. And in John chapter 20 she runs to tell the disciples. The other women in the meantime continue to the tomb.

There they encounter two angels. One of them speaks to them and says. You're looking for Jesus who is dead.

Why are you seeking the dead among the living? He's alive. He's risen as he said he would. He's going to go before you into Galilee.

Go tell his brethren that he will meet you in Galilee. And so the women then run off to tell the disciples. Just what the angel had told them to tell him.

In the meantime, Mary had already reached the disciples. And two of them, Peter and John. Were sufficiently interested to go and investigate the story.

So when Mary got to the disciples. Peter and John ran out the door toward the tomb. Mary turned around and started following them.

But by now she was probably tired and couldn't keep up with them. So actually John got to the tomb first. Peter second.

And Mary trailing along behind. The women who had already been to him were now gone. And we're going to tell the disciples.

And Jesus met them in route. And said all hail. And they fell down and worshipped at his feet.

And he repeated to them. What the angel told him. Go tell my brethren.

That I'm going to go before them into Galilee and they'll meet me there. Peter and John then come to the tomb. Way ahead of Mary.

John stops at the door of the tomb. Peter runs past and goes in. John then comes in.

They see the grave clothes of Jesus. And it says. John saw it and he believed.

But they both went scratching their head. Not knowing exactly what to think about it. And when Peter and John left.

Mary arrived again. Mary Magdalene. And she didn't see the angel.

Well she did. She saw an angel. But she didn't converse with the angel.

And then she was weeping outside the tomb. And she saw Jesus. But she didn't know it was him.

She thought he was a gardener. And she asked. You know.

Where have you taken the body? If he's in the way. Let me know. And I'll take him somewhere else for you.

And Jesus said. Mary. Mary.

And she recognized something. About the way he spoke to her. And she knew it was him.

And she grabbed him. And said. Rabboni.

And he said. Don't cling to me. I have not yet ascended to my father.

But go and tell my brother. You know. That I'll meet you.

I'm ascending to my father. And to your father. And to my God.

And to your God. And I'll be meeting with you folks. And so.

She runs off. Now at this point. The women have been at the tomb first.

They saw an angel. And they were told to go tell the disciples. To expect to meet Jesus in Galilee.

As they went to do so. They met Jesus himself. And he repeated the same instructions.

In the meantime. Mary. Who had broken off from them.

As soon as they saw the tomb was open. Had gone back. Gotten Peter and John.

Peter and John have gone to the tomb. And left. Mary has now come back to the tomb.

And now. She's met Jesus. And she leaves.

Okay. Then. There was an appearance.

Of Jesus to Peter. That appearance. Is not recorded.

Specifically. We don't have any details of it. We know it happened.

Because a. Paul mentions it. In 1st Corinthians 15. And B. Because the two men on the road to Emmaus.

Who saw Jesus. Were told by the other disciples. That Jesus had.

Appeared to Peter. Sometime that day. So the next appearance.

After to Mary Magdalene. And the women. Apparently was to Peter.

Though we don't know exactly where. And under what circumstances. That happened.

Now. As far as we know. The next appearance.

Of Jesus. Was on the road to Emmaus. With two men.

Two lesser men. I mean. They were not among the twelve.

They were. One was named Cleopas. And the other's name.

Is not given to us. And. They were walking to Emmaus.

Which is a. What about. I think six miles. From Jerusalem.

If I'm not mistaken. Might be a little less. And they were walking.

From Jerusalem. To. Apparently their home.

In Emmaus. And Jesus. Joined them on the road.

They didn't recognize him. At first. He said.

What are you so sad about? They said. Don't you know. What's gone on in Jerusalem.

These last few days. And. He said.

What things. And they said. Well.

Jesus of Nazareth. Had come. And we thought he was going to be the one.

Who restored the kingdom of Israel. Etc. And he said.

Oh you have. You slow of heart. And slow to believe.

Dull of heart. And slow to believe. All that the prophets have said unto you.

Should not the Christ have suffered. And entered into his glory. And he opened up the scriptures to them.

Their hearts burned in them. As he did so. But they didn't recognize who he was.

They came to their home. In Emmaus. And they said.

Oh. Jesus of Nazareth. He's coming.

He's coming. He's coming. He's coming.

He's coming. He's coming. And they meet with the disciples in the upper room.

And just as they come in to tell their news. The disciples say to them. Hey.

Jesus is really alive. He appeared to Peter. And the men who have come from Emmaus.

Give their story. And so the disciples are all pretty well convinced. That Jesus is risen.

With the exception of Thomas. Who for some reason was not there. Now this is all happening on the same night.

That Jesus rose from the dead. This is Sunday night. All these appearances so far have occurred on Sunday.

It's strange. That Jesus had the angel tell them to meet him in Galilee. Because he in fact met them that night.

Before they could ever go to Galilee. He met them there in Jerusalem. Repeatedly.

Actually they were still in Jerusalem. Eight days later when Thomas was with them. And Jesus appeared again.

And it's strange. Because it seems like. He was supposed to meet them in Galilee.

But instead he meets them twice. In fact repeatedly. In the area of Jerusalem.

So why did he have the women tell my brethren. That I'll meet them in Galilee. I'll tell you what I think is the answer.

There were some appearances in Galilee later on. And I do believe that the brethren. That they are to give this information.

They are not strictly the apostles. Jesus was going to have his own way of appearing to them. Immediately.

But the brethren would probably be those multitudes in Galilee. Who would be called the remnant. Who had believed in Jesus.

They weren't around when he was crucified. Because they lived at the other end of the country. And they may not have all been able to come down.

But there were many in Galilee. That had believed in Jesus. And they may be the ones that Jesus.

Go tell them I'll meet them in Galilee. And sure enough he did. He appeared to over 500 brethren.

Although the gospels don't record it. First Corinthians 15 does. And it is probably that meeting with the brethren in Galilee.

That is referred to there. But before he met with the brethren in general. He met with the apostles in the upper room.

And it was the Sunday night. Resurrection night. He met with them.

He breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit. He said as I have sent. As the father sent me so I send you.

And Thomas who was not present. After this was all passed. Heard about it and didn't agree with it.

Didn't believe it. He was skeptical. And then eight days later.

Jesus appeared in the upper room to them again. And Thomas was present. And his doubt was turned to faith.

On that occasion. And that brings us. To the end almost.

Of the resurrection appearances of Jesus. There was recorded an appearance by the Sea of Galilee. And that was when seven of the disciples were out in a boat fishing all night.

And Jesus was on the shore. But they didn't immediately recognize him. And when he identified himself by giving them a huge catch of fish.

Peter jumped in the water and swam ashore. The others pulled the fish to shore. Jesus already had some fish cooking.

Even though they'd fished all night. Hadn't caught any. He had got some from somewhere.

And he had some fish already on the fire when they got there. And they had breakfast together. And on that occasion.

Jesus. Especially confronted Peter. Who had denied him three times.

And said Peter do you love me more than these. Three times he said it. And each time Peter affirmed it.

And apparently that was. And each time Jesus will feed my sheep or feed my lambs. And apparently Jesus way of restoring Peter.

To good standing having denied Jesus. Peter would be rejected as a Christian. If Jesus hadn't specifically.

Done something to restore him to office. As the shepherd of the sheep. And.

The final appearance. In the. Synoptic Gospels.

Is. In Galilee. On a mountain.

We don't know what mountain. Maybe the same place where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. It is.

Possibly where those 500 people were present. And there. In Matthew chapter 28.

We read that Jesus gave. Matthew's version of the Great Commission. It says.

In Matthew 28. Twenty eight. Sixteen.

Then the eleven disciples went away to Galilee. To the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw him.

They worshipped him. But some doubted. Not not of the eleven.

Certainly there were others there who must have doubted. Then Jesus came and spoke to them saying. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore. Make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father. And of the son of the Holy Spirit.

Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo I'm with you always even to the end of the age. Amen.

Now we're told. In verse 16 of this chapter. That that was on a mountain in Galilee.

That obviously therefore does not correspond to any of the appearances. Of Jesus. In Jerusalem.

And it does not correspond to. The day of his ascension. Because he ascended from a mountain.

Not in Galilee but in Judea. He ascended from the Mount of Olives. Which is outside Jerusalem in Judea.

So when we come to. Acts chapter one. And we have the ascension of Jesus.

Which takes place from the Mount of Olives. That is a separate occasion. And so after Jesus.

Met with his disciples in Galilee. There was another occasion. Just.

Forty days after his resurrection. Where he met them again down in Judea. And that was on the Mount of Olives.

And that's recorded in Acts chapter one. And there. He told them that.

Well they asked him actually. They said are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel. And he said that he was.

That was something for God the father to know. It was not for them to know the times and the seasons. That the father put in his own time.

And his own power. But he said you will receive power. After the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you'll be my witnesses. In Jerusalem in Judea and Samaria to the other parts of the earth. And then.

He was taken up as they watched into heaven. And disappeared into the clouds and he sat down at the right hand of God. And the last little bit of this story is that as the disciples.

Sat or stood gazing up into the sky. And into the clouds where Jesus had disappeared from sight. Two angels stood by there and said you men of.

Galilee why do you stand gazing into heaven as Jesus. Whom you've seen go up will come back in the same manner. As you saw him go.

And so the disciples went from there. Into Jerusalem where they remained. As Jesus had instructed them until the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

And the life of Jesus continues. After that because in Acts chapter one. The writer who is Luke.

Refers back to the book of Luke which. Contained the story as we've had it so far. And in Acts 1 1. Luke writes the former account I made of the office of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.

That is to say the book of Luke only contains the beginning. Of what Jesus did and taught. But the book of Luke brings the story all the way up to the ascension of Christ into heaven.

But that's just the beginning according to Luke. The remainder or the remainder begins to be recorded in the book of Acts. It's been going on for 2000 years.

And according to the scriptures. The life of Jesus is not over of course he rose from the dead and because he's alive. His life goes on and he reigns at the right hand of God the father.

Jesus. Place at the right hand of the father and what he is doing there. Is referred to by theologians as the session of Christ the present session.

Of Christ which has to do with him sitting at the right hand of the father. And we're told in scripture that at the right hand of God he is ruling. And those who've died with him are on thrones ruling with him.

And that he is interceding for us. As a high priest. And he is waiting the time when he will be able to come back again.

And judge those who have rejected him and establish. A world that will be subject to him and where there is no more curse. Where his disciples will live with him forever.

The meantime however he is. Living still. That is the unique.

Claim of the Christian faith. No other major religion. Of ancient times or of ancient origins can make any such claim or even tries to.

But Christianity makes the unique and audacious claim that. The founder who lived 2000 years ago is still living. And is actually in personal communication with his followers.

And lives with them. And rules their lives and cares for them and works in their lives and so forth. So this is the life of Christ.

In a nutshell this is a very brief. Survey. Of the life of Christ and that is how we will.

End our series on it.